Alone
by ZiggyGurl
Summary: A Dallas Winston character sketch. Dallas Winston is so real he scares Ponyboy, and he's so alone that he scares everyone else.


**Title:** Alone  
**Fandom:** the Outsiders  
**Characters:** Dallas Winston, mention of other Outsiders characters  
**Genre:** Character sketch  
**Rating:** PG  
**Category:** One Shot/short  
**Warnings:** I don't own the Outsiders. Spoilers if you haven't read the Outsiders, but if you haven't, why would you bother reading this?  
**Summary:** It's a character sketch about Dallas, what more can be said?

Dallas Winston made a show of leaning up against the car, taking a cool drag of his cigarette. His eyes remained focused out in the distance, as if he were not seeing the scene unfolding before him. Dallas didn't generally like to participate in petty arguments, so he abstained from this one as well. His father could argue with him all he wanted, but he would not get a reaction. Dallas was far too cool to fly off of the handle at his father over something that didn't matter. He didn't need anymore jail time, on top of everything.

His father was not known for his tact. In fact, he was generally avoided, if possible, by most of the people in the town. Dallas knew the feeling, he didn't particularly like to visit his father either. In fact, the only time Dallas visited his father was when he needed something, generally some clothes out of his tiny closet, or some money stolen from his father's wallet when he passed out drunk. His father was an alcoholic, certainly, but he was also a drug dealer, which provided plenty of money to keep his shabby house going, especially since he didn't even have electricity. He tried his best to ignore his son when possible, and when he couldn't he blew off lots of rage at him. He felt it was Dallas's fault that his wife had died, although there was no way he could be held accountable for a fever contracted shortly after Dallas's birth. It felt good to make everything someone else's fault, and Dallas was so conveniently there.

Dallas did not have a happy home life, but he didn't make it easy for himself either. Dallas used most of his energies thinking of more ways to get in trouble. Maybe he was trying to tempt fate, maybe he was really bored, or maybe you could blame it on the way he was raised, and the place he was raised in, but mainly it was just Dallas's fault. His cheif enjoyments in life included smoking cigarettes, drinking, participating in rodeos, picking up girls, slashing tires, and picking fights.

Despite all of his shortcomings Dallas had a loyal band of friends. Darrel, Sodapop, and Ponyboy Curtis, Steve Randle, Two-Bit Matthews and last but not least, Johnny Cade made up the group that Dallas spent most of his time with. He also had some good friends outside of that group, who were all interconnected in Tim Shepard's gang. Dally and Tim got along superbly, if only because they were two peas in a psychologically messed up pod. Dallas also had a girlfriend, Sylvia, but he didn't love her, or even really like her, he just put up with her for the sake of having a girl he could mess around with when he wasn't in the cooler. In fact, Dallas didn't really love anyone except Johnny Cade, and he only loved him by default. Johnny Cade, to Dally, represented innocence that had been lost long ago for Dallas. As long as Johnny retained that, he would be Dallas's pet.

Eventually Dallas's father was done yelling, or at least done as far as Dallas was concerned. He turned on his heel, throwing his cigarette behind him, and began walking toward the Curtis household. He didn't need money so badly that he would be bothered with talking with his Dad any longer. He could camp out on the Curtis couch, and watch the Curtis TV and lay low for a few days until he'd thought of another worthwhile, and highly illegal stunt, that he could pull.

If there was one thing that was for sure about Dallas Winston, it was probably the fact that nobody would really miss him after he was gone. Sure, a few people would be sad for a while because he was good in a rumble, and he was a tough guy, but nobody would really ever miss him, only Johnny. By the time Dallas was gone though, Johnny wasn't around to miss him either, so his memory was easily able to fade into the background, just another headstone in the local cemetery. The people who remembered him, not even fond enough of him to keep up his grave.

Dallas Winston was a tragic story.


End file.
